Highway to Heaven
by Broadwaylover5300
Summary: Amber thought that there was no way to escape her dull, boring life in Baltimore, that is, until somebody came along and offered her the chance to escape it all. Amber/Corny!


**Hi! Here's another songfic from me!**

**I've already written a songfic with this theme (The Journey, and by coincidence, the songs in both of these are by Bruce Springsteen), but this one is Corny/Amber, as opposed to the other one, which was Link/Amber.**

**The song in this one is Thunder Road by Bruce Springsteen. I don't own the song. This is possibly my favorite song of all time; it is one of the most beautiful songs I've ever heard!**

**Oh, and although all the lyrics are amazing (as is the melody, the singing, and everything else about the song), I've only included the ones that really emphasize the theme of the story! **

_The screen door slams  
Mary's dress waves  
Like a vision she dances across the porch  
As the radio plays_

Corny sat in his dressing room after the show had finished shooting, taking stock of his life.

Baltimore no longer held its luster. When he was beginning his career, when his career had been all he cared about, Baltimore had seemed like a wonderland, a place that could take him anywhere he wanted to go in his life, a place where anything was possible.

That was back when his career was the most important thing in his life. Now that his career was going relatively well, he felt that his life was empty. He felt the way that Harold Hill described in The Music Man: "You keep living for tomorrow and you'll find that you've collected nothing but a lot of empty yesterdays." It wasn't that living for tomorrow was bad, but it 

wasn't something that Corny wanted to do all his life. He wanted to make today worth remembering, tomorrow worth remembering, and he knew that if he didn't do it now, break away and start really living, he would never do it.

But Corny knew that he couldn't do it alone.

xxx

Amber wasn't nearly as happy as some made her out to be. Most people, especially people like Shelley and Tammy, felt that Amber was so lucky to have a mother who bought her such beautiful clothes, such beautiful jewelry, who worked so hard to make her daughter a star. Amber supposed that all that probably did look glamorous to those who didn't know the whole story, but from where Amber was standing, where one could see the whole picture, one could see that her life was anything but glamour.

Velma was the cause of much of Amber's unhappiness. Velma wanted Amber to be a star, but not for Amber's benefit. Velma wanted Amber to be a star because Velma had never been one, and Amber figured that Velma felt that forcing Amber into stardom was the next best thing to being a star herself. It wasn't long before things that were supposed to be fun, things like dance lessons and acting lessons, became to Amber the equivalent of doing the dishes or taking out the garbage.

Velma didn't appreciate Amber's lack of appreciation, and Velma often took out her anger toward Amber physically. Amber often had to wear dresses that hid the bruises on her 

back, had to wear extra makeup to cover up the black eyes, had to keep from wincing as she tried not to limp as she walked down the halls or danced on the show.

Amber wanted to escape, to get away from her mother and Baltimore, go someplace where she could just be herself without being beaten for it, but it seemed that there was no escape.

_Roy Orbison singing for the lonely  
Hey that's me and I want you only  
Don't turn me home again  
I just can't face myself alone again_

Corny pulled up in front of Amber's house, where he found Amber sitting on her front porch, drinking a Coke, the radio playing. Corny got out of his car and walked up to Amber. Amber reached down into a cooler that sat next to her chair, pulled out a Coke bottle, and offered it to Corny.

"You want a Coke?" Amber asked, putting up the façade that she always put up around others.

Corny shook his head. Amber shrugged and put the Coke back.

Corny took a deep breath. He had already rehearsed several times how he would say this to Amber, and he was ready to do the real thing.

"Uh, Amber," he began, beckoning at his car, "Would you like to take a ride with me?"

"Where to?" Amber asked.

"I don't know. Wherever the highway takes us, I guess."

Amber looked up at Corny, surprised by his response. "What do you mean?"

Corny took another deep breath, then said, "Amber, I've gotta get out of this town. There's nothing for me here anymore, and I want to really start living my life. I can't live my life alone, Amber, and you're the only one I want to spend my life with. You've got to come with me!"

Amber quickly recomposed herself, trying to hide the excitement that had just filled her.

_Don't run back inside  
Darling you know just what I'm here for  
So you're scared and you're thinking  
That maybe we ain't that young anymore  
Show a little faith, there's magic in the night  
You ain't a beauty, but hey you're alright  
Oh and that's alright with me_

"Well, how long are we going to be gone?" Amber asked, trying to stay calm and nonchalant.

Corny laughed. "This is not just some weekend trip I'm talking about, Amber. I'm talking about starting over, starting life with a clean slate, abandoning all that's bad about our lives and living the life that we've always wanted to. I'm talking about the chance to leave behind all the big problems that plague our lives and live our lives free of such things. I'm talking about freedom, Amber!"

Amber sunk down deep in her chair, unsure of what to do. She wanted to go; she wanted to go very badly. However, down deep, she was afraid of her mother.

Corny, as if reading her mind, said, "Amber, your mother's at the studio, and she will be for a few more hours. We can be long gone by the time she gets home."

_You can hide 'neath your covers  
And study your pain  
Make crosses from your lovers  
Throw roses in the rain  
Waste your summer praying in vain  
For a savior to rise from these streets  
Well now I'm no hero  
That's understood  
All the redemption I can offer girl  
Is beneath this dirty hood  
With a chance to make it good somehow_

Corny continued. "You can stay here, of course. You can stay here with your mother, dance until you can't anymore, get some job here in Baltimore, and just waste your life waiting for something better to happen. If that's the life you want, Amber, then I'll get in my car and leave you, and you can stay. But, somehow, Amber, I know that's not what you want. You want to break free of your mother; you want to break free of Baltimore and all the restrictions that it puts upon you. I'm offering you the chance to do just that, Amber. Chances like this don't come along twice in a lifetime, Amber. You can't pass it by!"

Amber smiled. She knew that this was exactly what she was waiting for, what she had been silently wishing for, somebody to take her away from the mess that was her life and let her start over.

"Is there anything I need to take?" she grinned.

Corny smiled warmly. "I've got everything we need."

_Hey what else can we do now  
Except roll down the window  
And let the wind blow back your hair  
Well the night's busting open  
These two lanes will take us anywhere  
We got one last chance to make it real  
To trade in these wings on some wheels  
Climb in back  
Heaven's waiting on down the tracks  
Oh oh come take my hand  
Riding out tonight to case the promised land_

Amber and Corny got in the car and drove toward the highway. The sun was setting, casting a dim purple light across the streets of Baltimore. Red, purple and orange streaks stretched out across the sky for as far as Amber could see. Amber sighed happily and rolled down the window of Corny's car. She took all her hair things out of her hair and let it fall around her. She let her hair blow around as much as it could in the wind. Amber knew that she had never been happier than she was right now.

Corny smiled as they drove out onto the highway, the road that would take them to their new life, to the wonders that waited out there in that big world for them, all the love, roads, journeys, and experiences all out there, waiting for him and Amber, just sitting out there, ready for the taking.

**I'd just like to say, again, that there's only a small chunk of song in this story, so I'd very, very, very highly recommend that you go to Youtube and give the whole song a listen, it's amazing!**


End file.
